S. Vijay Kumar
CHENNAI, September 4, 2012 | The Hindu
The Hindu Sri Lankan school students who had come to play football
matches left the country with the assistance of the Sri Lankan Deputy High
Commission, Chennai police sources said on Monday. File photo
A day after two batches of Sri Lankan students who were here on
invitation to play football matches left India in three different flights on
Sunday, tension prevailed in Thanjavur district where 200 Sri Lankans arrived
to participate in a religious event.
Members of the Naam Tamizhar Iyakkam raised slogans protesting the visit
of the Sri Lankan nationals and demanded that they be sent back immediately,
police sources said.
Worried about the development, one of the pilgrims made frantic calls to
officials, including the Foreign Secretary of India.
Top police and revenue officials intervened and held talks with both
groups. “No decision has been taken yet on sending them (the Sri Lankan
nationals) back to their country. As of now, adequate security arrangements
have been made to ensure their safety. They had come to participate in a church
festival,” a senior police official said.
Meanwhile, Chennai police sources said Sri Lankan school students who
had come to play football matches advanced their return tickets and left the
country with the assistance of the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission
authorities.
Hours after Chief Minister Jayalalithaa ordered that the Sri Lankan
students be sent back, police got in touch with the teams and persuaded them to
leave, the sources said.
The first team of 11 students arrived in Chennai on August 30 and played
a friendly match with a Customs team. While they waited to play the next match,
another team of 19 students landed early on Sunday. They were scheduled to play
a match with a private school team here.
“In order to ensure their safety, we escorted them to the airport. In
the last one week, there were two incidents of protests against the visit of
Sri Lankan students. Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam workers staged a demonstration
against the visit of a Sri Lankan school cricket team to a school in Yercaud.
Similarly, a protest was organised to oppose another group participating in a
cultural programme in a Tiruchi college,” a police officer said.
Incidents unfortunate
The Deputy High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Southern India R.K.M.A.
Rajakaruna termed the incidents unfortunate. “The students were here on
invitation…it was a goodwill visit and they had their return tickets. The visit
was not in connection with any Government programme but based on
people-to-people contact. It is very unfortunate that these incidents are
happening here,” he told The Hindu.
Mr. Rajakaruna said a special request was made to Sri Lankan Airlines to
fly the players to Colombo.
